Key facts
- Seven in 10 patients at Eastern Iowa Health Center rely on Medicaid.
- The number of patients living on month-to-month leases at the center has more than doubled in three years.
- Republican-proposed Medicaid cuts, including 80-hour work requirements, are expected to take effect after the midterms.
Health care is emerging as a critical issue in Iowa's upcoming elections, potentially rivaling concerns over gas and grocery prices. The state's closely watched races are seeing a confluence of health care challenges, including a cancer crisis, the struggles of rural hospitals, proposed cuts to the social safety net, and the MAHA movement. Eastern Iowa Health Center in Cedar Rapids, where seven in 10 patients rely on Medicaid, is particularly concerned about the impact of proposed Republican cuts. The center's president and CEO, Joe Lock, warned that the implementation of 80-hour work requirements for Medicaid recipients would be 'devastating' for their patient base and the facility itself, especially as the number of patients living on month-to-month leases has doubled in three years.